Ganga

By: Vithal C Nadkarni In a tweet about quirks of our babudom, Omar Abdullah questions the need to sit on chairs draped with a towel in government offices. Is this because the chairs aren't clean, the J&K CM asks. Or is the towel acover-up op for stains? It's tempting to dismiss this as a mere housekeeping query. The short answer then would be, ahem, to KICK it, "Keep It Clean, Kookie!" But closer cogitation by your columnist leads to a murkier mindset: it's really about our personal obsession with cleanliness being...

NEW DELHI: Ganga Ram Agarwal , a senior railway official, has been appointed as the new Secretary of Railway Board . Agarwal's predecessor PC Gajbhiye attained the age of superannuation today, according to a Railway Ministry release. An officer of Indian Railway Services of Electrical Engineering (IRSEE), Agarwal was working as Chief Electrical Engineer in Central Railway prior to this posting. New Secretary has worked in different capacities in railways and has...

It's a pleasant afternoon when our east bound train leaves Delhi. Clusters of colonies gradually dissolve into vast expanses ? grey and dusty, and occasionally splashed with patches of green. Winter's almost over. At dusk, we glimpse large cranes bidding farewell to the setting sun. Soon, darkness descends as our train rattles into the unknown. Changing odours waft through the windows of our compartment, heralding the season round the corner. I stay awake till cooler winds welcome us to the valley of the Ganga,...

MUZAFFARNAGAR: Water supply to Delhi, Noida and Agra will be affected due to the closure of the Ganga canal for maintenance work, official sources said here today. The canal has been closed from October 14 to November 3 for maintenance work, said the Sub Divisional Officer of UP Irrigation Department V S Yadav . According to Yadav, the closure would hit water supply to 19 districts of Uttar Pradesh, including Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Aligarh, Hathras, and Firozabad.

NEW DELHI: Cleaning of river Ganga is expected to be completed by 2020, by which time desired results of initiatives taken up for the purpose will be visible, the government has said. In reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha , Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti said cleaning of the river Ganga was a massive task. "The present initiative of Ganga cleaning is expected to be completed by 2020, by which time most of the projects that have initiated/proposed are expected...

PATNA: The Patna High Court today ordered regular desilting of the Ganga, which had moved five km away from the Patna town, but was dredged back to the original place acting on a high court directive. The division bench of Chief Justice L Narasimha Reddy and Justice Anjana Mishra today directed Inland Waterways Authority of India that desilting should be done every year, to be monitored by the court, in order to ensure a regular flow of water near Patna. The bench...

MUMBAI: Concerned over pollution in country's rivers, including the sacred Ganga, BJP leader L K Advani has asked the chemical industry to find innovative and cost effective ways to stop environmental degradation. "...when I think of the highly polluted condition of Ganga today, I wonder with immense sadness in my heart, why have we neglected and ill-treated our mother river like this?" Advani asked. "Companies in the chemical industry should take a pledge to adopt strong...

PATNA: On a day when Congress leader and youth icon Rahul Gandhi was campaigning in Bihar, JD(U) president Sharad Yadav launched a blistering attack against the Nehru-Gandhi family and said he (Mr Rahul Gandhi) should be immersed in the Ganga. The personal attack launched by the senior JD(U) leader against Congress' star campaigner met with strong reactions from the state Congress. "If Sharadji will not tender apology within 24 hours, we will formally lodge a...

Cashflow, crossfire, black money, double trouble, return-to-sender. Hey, relax. This isn't an underworld exchange. These are the charming names of some of those wet 'n' wild white water rapids on the Ganga, barely 40km from the tranquil and holy town of Rishikesh in Uttaranchal. There are more ominous-sounding ones: Daniel's Deep and The Wall, the grade IV rapids where one false move could send you either hurtling down to a plunging water drop or churn you around in a devilish...

PATNA: Even as the Congress seethed at Sharad Yadav for his call to voters to "immerse" general secretary Rahul Gandhi and his party into the Ganga, calling the remark "indecent, the JD(U) president stuck to his guns saying, "Yes, I've been telling people to dunk the hand, the bungalow and the lantern (poll symbols of the Congress, LJP and RJD ) into the Ganga for ever. " "Ganga mein bhashaan kar do inko," Yadav thundered again on Monday. "Why and to whom should I give an...

NEW DELHIL: The government today said the ministries of water resources, environment and power are in discussions to ensure "uninterrupted" higher e-flow from any hydro-power projects such that river Ganga neither gets fragmented nor loses its character throughout its length. Replying to a question in Lok Sabha , Minister of State for Water Resources Sanwar Lal Jat said, e-flow is the quantum of water that must uninterruptedly flow in the river in all the...

PATNA: A sand-laden boat capsized in the Ganga in Patna district today with villagers saving all 12 on board from drowning. Danapur Sub-divisional Officer Arvind Kumar Verma said the incident happened near Bramhachari Tola under Maner police station in the district. The engine-fitted boat was going from Maner to Pahleja Ghat in Sonepur in Saran district across the river when the accident took place. "The water level is high in the Ganga due to the...

French Ambassador to India Francois Richier tells Anubhuti Vishnoi in an interview that the Modi government has already taken some important initiatives on combating climate change. Excerpts: Do you find a change in India's approach to climate change under the Narendra Modi government? That was evident from day one of this government when Mr (Prakash) Javadekar was appointed minister for climate change. That was an important signal...

NEW DELHI: Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Varanasi tomorrow, Ganga Rejuvenation Minister Uma Bharti today inspected the ongoing cleaning exercise in the river and its ghats in the holy city and announced that its sewage treatment capacity will be increased to 411.8 MLD from 101.8 MLD. After inspecting the progress of Clean Ganga Mission from Assi Ghat to Dashashwamedha Ghat in Varanasi, Bharti said...

NEW DELHI: Germany is keen to offer its expertise for the Ganga clean-up mission by bringing in the experience of cleaning Rhine river there. "Rejuvenation and cleaning of the river Ganga is one of the top priorities of Indian government. We are now just in the phase where we are going to see how we are going to assist the Indian government in this important endeavour," Heiko Warnken , head of Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany, said on the...

BHOPAL: Voicing confidence that Shivraj Singh Chouhan will come out unscathed in the Vyapam probe, BJP's Madhya Pradesh unit president Nand Kumar Singh Chouhan today said the chief minister is "as holy as the river Ganga" and the CBI investigation would prove this. "The Chief Minister is as holy as the river Ganga and the CBI probe will prove it. All attempts of the Congress to defame Chouhan will ultimately lead to its further downfall in the state, and BJP will...

DEHRADUN: Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar today said that the Centre will take stringent action against the factories which are responsible for polluting Ganga and several methords are being prepared to conserve the river. Speaking at the two-day consultation for preparing Detail Project Report (DPR) for the 'Swachh Ganga' Campaign, Javadekar said that the factories which are based on the banks of Ganga is one of the major reason for the...